When I was a young baseball / softball player in my teens and early 20s, I developed a simple exercise that dramatically increased the speed of my hand, my ability to get my glove where it needed to be instantly, any speed of my eye when it happened. ball was coming towards me. high speed.
This may sound crazy, but I guarantee it works wonders. It has worked for me for 50 years and it still works for me today.
Put on your glove and find a concrete wall with concrete on the ground in front of the wall. Grab a golf ball and start slowly tossing it against the concrete wall (at slow speeds to start) and secure it with the mesh of your glove.
For outfield players, bounce the golf ball off the wall to where it hits the concrete on the ground in front of the wall and back to you. To throw flying balls, first bounce the golf ball off the concrete on the floor in front of the wall.
Start slowly and increase the speed with which you throw the golf ball in increments. The ball will come off the wall at incredible speeds once you develop your ability to catch it.
This exercise works very well for several reasons:
* The ball is small and once you practice fielding such a small ball, a baseball or softball looks like a large balloon coming towards you and making it easier to pick it up with your eyes and glove.
* The ball will come towards you at incredible speeds and once you increase your reaction time to catch it at high speeds, a baseball or softball will appear to be in slow motion when you hit it.
* Catching a golf ball at high speeds dramatically increases hand-eye coordination and makes it much easier to catch a baseball or softball.
Experiment with this simple exercise and you will be amazed at how well and quickly your skill level increases.